


The Reverence of Kaede Akamatsu

by VirtualKibou



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-08-25 00:31:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16650865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirtualKibou/pseuds/VirtualKibou
Summary: --MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL OF V3--Kaede didn't expect the mastermind to interfere with her plan to kill them, nor did she expect them to retaliate like they did. Now, however, her life - and the lives of the other 15 students in the Academy - will be forever altered in a way none of them anticipated.Some will live.Most will die.And amid the insanity, a revolution will ignite.





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this fic came to me in a dream, and while I don't quite remember what said dream was about, it was wild enough to inspire me to begin writing this.
> 
> The title is also a reference to a particular YA sci-fi novel I like, but I won't say which one due to spoilers for a later chapter.

I'm in the library with Shuichi, setting up my trap for the mastermind, when he suddenly gasps and begins to climb down the ladder on which he is standing.

"Saihara-kun! What's wrong?" I call out to him, stunned by his sudden actions.

"I..."

Shuichi hops off the ladder and tries to respond, but he is panting heavily. Only after pressing a hand to his temple and taking a moment to calm down does he complete what he had been trying to say:

"...I heard something."

I turn from my spot, almost knocking a hand into the trap I'd been so careful to hide. "I didn't hear anything..." I reply unsteadily. "Yet...what did it sound like?"

"I don't know how to explain it." Slowly, Shuichi removes his hand from his hatted head, then he continues, "But, whatever it may have been, it sounded...inhuman.

"I'm going to search for the source, Akamatsu-san. I'll be back as soon as I can."

At first, I hesitate; _What if something happens to him?_ I ask myself. _I'll never be able to forgive myself if he gets killed..._

"Please stay safe, Saihara-kun," I say at last, remembering that, after all, he is a detective.

Shuichi nods and gives a slight smile. "I'll do my best."

I watch him run out of the library, waiting until he is out of sight before turning back to continue with setting the trap.

With him gone, my worries of him finding out about my plan are alleviated, at least for now. At the same time, however, I feel uneasy. Perhaps it's the thought of being alone in a dangerous situation, but my chest aches with a fear of sorts. _If something were to happen to me_ , I realize, _nobody would notice..._

 _Stay focused_ , I silently instruct my body before mentally beginning to play Stravinsky's Piano Sonata.

The music in my head is quite calming, and before I know it, my part of the trap is done. I clap my hands together softly and grin; the mastermind won't know what hit them - literally.

_Wait...where's Shuichi?_

I visually scan the room, but he's nowhere to be found. "Augh, what's taking him so long...?" I ask aloud as I turn back around.

It occurs to me that I probably should make sure everything's perfect, so I begin to take a closer look at my handiwork. "Everything's in place, right?" I mumble to no one. "Need to be absolutely cer-"

The hand whips the rag over my mouth before I can react.

My mind is thrown into a frenzy, and I scream, though no sound leaves my lips. I try to fight back, but my attempts are futile, nothing more than thrashing and some pettily wild tries at slapping a face I cannot not see.

Eventually, I grow exhausted, and when the last of my breath leaves my lungs, I give up and collapse into the arms of my attacker. The void consumes my consciousness shortly afterward.

* * *

"Welp! It appears I severely underestimated you, Miss Enoshima."

Amid the blackness, a squeaky, cheery, and all-around terrifying voice emerges, echoing through the nothing. It takes me a second to gather my thoughts, but then its source clearly surfaces.

 _Monokuma? Wh-what's Monokuma doing here? Where_ is _here? I..._

A second voice - one I don't recognize - replies, "Hell yeah, you did!" and laughs.

There's something about their - her? - laugh that horrifies me, a cold, cruel, merciless intonation I'd never believed to be sonically possible to produce.

It is, without a doubt, something only a villain - a mastermind - could possess.

" _HEEEYYYYYYY!_ " I cry out.

Only there is no sound. Not even a whisper is audible.

Monokuma speaks again. "Oh? Is she awake?"

"The pianist bitch?" the second voice responds. "Yeah, appears she's trying to wake up. Gimme a sec."

Footsteps follow, but I almost don't hear them - I'm too caught up in wondering what, exactly, the nature of this confusing web of a scenario is. I don't even pay much mind to the "pianist bitch" comment - it likely is nowhere near as bad as whatever my situation is.

Then my vision fades from black into color, and I can see once more.

Sure enough, Monokuma is in front of me, his abnormal, glowing, blood-red left eye staring into my own pupils.

The source of the second voice - a young woman with wild, bleached hair in pigtails, donning an outfit looking like something a supermodel would wear - comes into view a few seconds later. I don't recognize her at all, but one thing's for sure: she's not here to make me happy.

I'm frozen in place in any case.

"Hello, Kaede!" Monokuma calls out to me, waving. "Apologies on Junko's behalf for the rough greeting - wasn't sure how to get you here otherwise."

"Don't fuckin' apologize to her!" the woman, whom I assume to be Junko, snorts, putting her hands on her hips and side-eyeing the bear. "It's more despairing when you don't show remorse, you little shit."

Monokuma cowers momentarily. "I was going to follow up with a 'not,'" he says, nervously sweating, "but alrightie."

Junko struts toward my still self. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Kaede Akamatsu," she says with a devilish smile before stopping a meter or so away from me. "If you haven't already guessed, I'm Junko Enoshima."

"J-Junko Enoshima...?" I repeat. The name lingers on my tongue, and it sounds somewhat familiar, though I can't pinpoint how.

"Yep! The one and only Ultimate Despair." She grins like the Cheshire Cat after her response. "But fuck that, at least for right now. How do you feel?"

"Confused and scared, but - given that I was just kidnapped - otherwise alright," I sass, not really meaning the last part.

"Alright?" Junko repeats, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

I choose not to respond.

"Fine, bitch, be that way."

Admittedly, that causes me to flinch.

"Do you know where you are?" Monokuma asks me.

"N-no..." I reply.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"No."

"Do you know how you got here?"

"No. Why are you asking m-"

"Do you know what you are?"

"HOW MANY TIMES ARE Y-"

Before I'm able to finish, I stop talking. "Huh? What do you mean, do I know what I am?"

Monokuma looks at Junko, who looks back and nods. She then reaches into her cardigan and pulls out a black, medium-sized hand-mirror, its reflective side facing her. "Do you really want to know?" the bear asks me as the woman analyzes the object.

"Yes, I do," I respond solemnly, staring at the mirror.

"Okey-dokey! Show her, Miss Enoshima."

Junko flips the mirror around, allowing the glass to face me, and I look into it.

I'm not sure what I'd expected, but what I see is not it.

It is far worse.


	2. Find Kaede, Then We'll Talk

No matter how hard Shuichi searched, he could not, for the life of him, find the source of the noise.

He'd observed monitor after monitor and checked every room in his sector of the Academy, but the sound never returned, nor did anything appear to even potentially be the cause of it. All of the other students were currently busy as well; he'd crossed paths with a handful of them headed down to a lower floor later into his search, but Tenko insisted the reason behind it wasn't something she would give to "a degenerate male" like him. Not even asking the few willing to answer questions would yield clues relevant to the curiosity at hand.

Persistence was in his blood, in his very genetic makeup, however, so he refused to stop...for a while, at least.

"Ghhhh..."

Gritting his teeth, Shuichi finally admitted defeat after what he believed to be approximately an hour and a half of intensive looking-around.  _All that time spent_ , he realized with a sigh, _and I acquired no leads whatsoever. Honestly, why did I even start? It was pointless after all._

Silently and without triumph, he made his way back to the library, his head lowered the entire time.

* * *

Shuichi's head was still lowered when he finally re-entered the room. "I'm back, Akamatsu-san," he called out.

It was quiet. Oddly, horrifyingly quiet.

"...Akamatsu-san?"

After getting no response, he quickly raised his head.

And Kaede was nowhere to be seen.

In an instant, his fear level skyrocketed, going from one to past ten before he could inhale again. "Wh-what...?"

He ran over to the ladder he'd been on not that long ago and climbed back up to the top, sweeping the entire room for a sign, a lead, anything, though he found nothing. "Oh no..." he breathed, panicked, as he raced back down.

_Kaede is missing. Kaede is missing. **Kaede is missing.**_

Shuichi was hyperventilating at this point; he couldn't bear the thought of his friend having vanished - or, worse, having already fallen victim to the killing game. "I need to find her," he choked out, tears streaking down his cheeks. "I need to find her!"

Newly filled with a deep motivation fueled by rage and a fractured hope, he broke into a sprint, calling out the names of his peers as he raced out of the library once more.

_Akamatsu-san...wherever you are, I hope you're okay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What DID happen to Kaede, though?
> 
> You'll find out likely sooner than you may think.
> 
> Also, the title of this chapter is a reference to a Panic! At The Disco song, specifically, "Build God, Then We'll Talk". Just thought it would be cool to lighten the mood a bit. /shrug


	3. She Screams, For She Does Not Know

I see myself...or, rather, a projected waist-up image of myself on the pixels of a large screen.

And, while it doesn't make any sense at first, confusion quickly morphs into terror as I realize the gravity of the sight.

Junko and Monokuma register my shock almost immediately and break into chaotic laughter in a matter of seconds. "Fuckin' hell, this is too good!" the woman cackles in delight as she puts the mirror back into her cardigan. "The audience is gonna love this!"

"No!" I scream louder than I ever remember screaming in my life, loud enough to make the walls tremble ever-so-slightly. "Show me it again! Please show me it again! This can't be real..."

Rolling her eyes, Junko hesitates for a moment before pulling out the mirror again. The second time looking into it, what I saw the first time is still there - nothing about it has changed.

Monokuma then asks me, "Do you understand now, Kaede?"

I don't answer verbally - the chaos within me has me paralyzed - but I find myself wordlessly asking what the meaning of this is. _No...wh...what...?_

"Cyber-fucking-netics," Junko says, cruelly passionate, as she crosses her arms across her chest and strikes a psychotic pose. "Team Danganronpa gave us the green light to use some experimental tech to ramp up the excitement this season, and of course we-"

"Miss Enoshima!" Monokuma interrupts, fear clouding his bear face. "Spoilers!"

Junko recoils, and her expression shifts to one of self-disappointment. "Ah...right..." she murmurs, clutching one of her pigtails with a pout.

My thoughts are scattered all over the place, but from somewhere amid the insanity, I recall something I'd learned in science class at my old high-school, at least a year or two prior to now: technology allowing for the digitization of the human mind was still being privately tested at the time, but it likely would not be long before it was commonplace in environments such as hospitals. _Wait...does this mean...it's-_

 "Precisely." Monokuma confirms my fears with soul-chilling precision and timing.

"Indeed," Junko chimes in, pulling out a pair of glasses from her cardigan. In an intellectual tone of voice, she adds, "Currently, as you correctly recalled, it's still in testing; however, we managed to acquire it in advance via acceptance into a closed alpha."

Before the question of how they knew what I was wondering could fully cross my mind, Monokuma replied, "And yes, we're able to see what you're thinking. Every action of yours in this form is, and will continue to be, logged - killing games are wild, but even life-or-death battle royales need to maintain order to a degree!"

"I don't-" I shout, though I am quickly interrupted by a peculiar, high-pitched beeping.

" _Fuck!_ " The exclamation comes from Junko, who quickly reverts back to her original personality. "It's time."

"TIME FOR _WHAT_?!"

Junko and Monokuma quickly dash out of sight without answering my question, though the lady - just before going for real - pops back into view and says, "One more thing, Cybermatsu: there's a firewall installed in this system. Nothing can come in, but don't get any fucking ideas - 'cause you can't get out, either."

And then they're both gone.

Not knowing what they're going to do or what will become of me, I scream into the digital void, knowing no one will hear me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that we've gotten to the twist that will drive the rest of the story, I'll reveal that I derived the title of this fic from Mary E. Pearson's 'The Adoration of Jenna Fox'. I'm not gonna go into detail about its plot, though, so - if you can put up with young-adult sci-fi - please read the novel for yourself.
> 
> And, before you ask, this chapter's title is a reference to a particular Cyanide & Happiness comic, specifically the one involving a gingerbread man sitting in a gingerbread house.


	4. Where She Was Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not updating this! I was busy working on original material, plus I haven't been on AO3 much in general as of late (personal circumstances).

"Saihara-chan!" Kokichi chirped for the umpteenth time as the group walked down the hallway. "Why so sad?"

Miu glared at him harshly. "Shut your ass up, eggplant."

"Shuichi sad 'cause Kaede nowhere be seen!" Gonta replied.

_You're not wrong, Gonta,_ Shuichi thought about saying. _Not at all..._

They'd already turned the entire school inside-out to find signs of her - hell, this was already the second time today alone Shuichi had done something of the sort - but she wasn't anywhere. Inside, outside...nowhere had been the right place. Despite their collective persistence, Monokuma hadn't been of any help, either.

"No can do," the bear had said when Tenko demanded that information regarding Kaede be given to them. "And remember: violence against the headmaster is against the rules, so I'd be careful if I were you! Puhuhuhuhu~"

Shuichi shook his head rapidly, trying to suppress his fright.

"Why are we bothering with this investigation?" Maki asked coldly. "At this point, she's probably dead and gone. Your insistence on finding her is so annoying."

"She may turn up on her own," Tsumugi stated in an attempt to instill a sliver of hope. Sighing, she then added, "I just hope it's not her corpse that does..."

The group turned and headed down the stairs.

* * *

 

The basement level felt even darker than usual, but Shuichi couldn't tell if it actually was dimmer or if he was just falling into despair. Nonetheless, the aura had him in a stranglehold.

"We've looked everywhere," Rantaro said, running a hand through his hair. "This scenario is nothing less than suspicious."

"It's too creepy for me!" Himiko responded unsteadily.

Shuichi stopped and turned to face the group, pulling the brim of his hat down over his face. "Thank you for trying to help, everyone. I'm so sorry for wasting your time..."

Kiyo's fingers went up to his mask. "It is not a waste," he reassured the boy, "to care deeply about your emotional bonds. They are what make us human, and to disregard them is to disregard evolution itself."

"If you need additional help, just call on me!" Kaito declared. "No way am I going to let this go unresolved!"

Forcing a faint smile, Shuichi walked back to the library door, opening it as the others began to disperse.

However, before they could fully leave, he screamed.

"What the fuck?!" Miu yelled, running back in his direction along with everyone else.

Shuichi then pointed a trembling finger to guide the others' eyes toward the source of his terror.

It would have been hard to overlook Kaede's body lying motionless on the floor, after all.


End file.
